DESCRIPTION: http://www.balconytv.ie
BALCONYTV DUBLIN 15/01/2009
PRESENTED BY PAULINE FREEMAN
Willie Kelly comes from a long line of entertainers and musicians. His great grandad Dusky Dan founded the Dusky roadshow in the early 1900's a travelling family variety show that criss crossed the rugged roads of early 20th century Ireland to as many towns and villages as they could reach entertaining the people with music, magic and theatre in a time when the word television was yet to be spoken. The bug was caught there and then and that tradition has been passed from generation to generation resulting in some amazing modern music success stories. Sandy Kelly has gone on to record and have hit records with such legends as Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Chet Atkins to name but a few and hosted her own entertainment show on Irish television throughout the early 90's. Stuart Zender was the original bass player with british mega band Jamiroquai and is currently with Mark Ronson which has led him to play with Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen among others. Danny and Richard McNamara have had huge success with british rock band Embrace having many top selling albums and hit singles all over the globe. And so the batton is passed to the next generation and the two family members looking to pick it up are british based singer/songwriter Philippa Hanna and Irish singer/songwriter Willie kelly. Willie kelly comes from Sligo town on the north west coast of Ireland. However he has spent quiet a bit of time over the past six years travelling over and back to Nashville Tennessee honing developing his talents as a songwriter and musician, these experiences seem to have influenced his creativity and style with some impact and so his own sound seems to have taken on a homely rock/pop vibe with an alt country overtone. In 2007 Willie hooked up with producers John Carter Cash and Jim Reilley to record his independent debut album "In The Unlikely Event Of Fire" at The Cash Cabin stuido on the outskirts of Nashville. Since the recordings Willie has been working on the release of the album and giging in Ireland with his live band "The Grassholes". "In The Unlikely Event Of Fire" is due for a late summer/early autumn Irish 2008 release, and is available in the USA now @ www.nashvilleim.com. The first single "Sligo Town" is available as a download only in Ireland from www.downloadmusic.ie Thanks to everyone that bought the "Sligo Town" single and helped get it to number 2 in the independent download chart and for keeping it in the top ten for the following three weeks.
